HOW MANY PHONES ARE IN THE WORLD?

1 BILLION MORE MOBILE CONNECTIONS THAN PEOPLE WORLDWIDE

The machines have officially taken over with almost 1 billion additional mobile connections than there are people – To put this in perspective, since its inception in 1973 mobile device connections has surpassed the number of people in the world, making it the fastest growing man-made technology phenomenon ever. Find out below how many smartphones are in the world as well as exactly how many people have a cell phone.

GLOBAL SMARTPHONE PENETRATION DATA

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE PHONES IN THE WORLD?

According to GSMA real-time intelligence data, there are now over 8.98 Billion mobile connections worldwide, which surpasses the current world population of 7.69 Billion implied by UN digital analyst estimates.

This data does exemplify that in the world of wireless, 66.72% of the world’s population are now unique mobile subscribers.

0

% of the world own a cell phone

0

Mobile Connections

0

World Population

0

Unique Mobile Subscribers

It’s important to state that not every person in the world has a mobile device. We’re talking mobile connections that come from people with multiple devices, and a fraction with dual SIM’s or other integrated devices like cars.

Top 50 Global Smartphone Penetration Markets

If you’re looking to find out how many phones are in the world, this interactive map and data table below demonstrates the top 50 global markets for smartphones forecasted in 2015-2020. The penetration figures are calculated through the population and individuals within that market that interact with a smartphone on a monthly basis e.g. how many people use cell phones in the particular country.

Tip: Hover over a market to see its data

Smartphone Users and Market Penetration

How Many People Have Smartphones in the World?

The raw smartphone penetration data is below ranked by the number of users within each market, with China leading with the only half their population scoring the most smartphone users at 775 Million. The United Arab Emirates has the highest smartphone penetration with 82.2% of its population owning a smartphone, whereas Bangladesh has the lowest user to population ratio at 5.40%.

Tip: Filter table columns by clicking on the headings

RANK

COUNTRY/MARKET

TOTAL POPULATION

SMARTPHONE USERS

SMARTPHONE PENETRATION

1

China

1,393,686,000

775,028,000

55.60%

2

India

1,358,138,000

386,934,000

28.50%

3

United States

328,836,000

235,156,000

71.50%

4

Brazil

212,873,000

91,191,000

42.80%

5

Russian Federation

143,261,000

84,075,000

58.70%

6

Indonesia

266,357,000

67,570,000

25.40%

7

Japan

125,738,000

65,282,000

51.90%

8

Mexico

131,788,000

60,870,000

46.20%

9

Germany

80,561,000

57,200,000

71.00%

10

United Kingdom

65,913,000

46,639,000

70.80%

11

Turkey

81,086,000

44,771,000

55.20%

12

France

65,206,000

44,225,000

67.80%

13

Italy

59,788,000

40,938,000

68.50%

14

South Korea

50,897,000

37,114,000

72.90%

15

Nigeria

196,753,000

36,445,000

18.50%

16

Egypt

97,007,000

35,622,000

36.70%

17

Iran

81,810,000

35,366,000

43.20%

18

Spain

46,117,000

32,069,000

69.50%

19

Thailand

68,416,000

30,486,000

44.60%

20

Vietnam

96,357,000

29,043,000

30.10%

21

Philippines

105,341,000

28,627,000

27.20%

22

Canada

36,958,000

26,531,000

71.80%

23

Poland

38,523,000

25,635,000

66.50%

24

Argentina

44,692,000

23,668,000

53.00%

25

South Africa

55,867,000

23,242,000

41.60%

26

Pakistan

200,663,000

23,228,000

11.60%

27

Saudi Arabia

33,300,000

22,748,000

68.30%

28

Malaysia

31,571,000

20,980,000

66.50%

29

Colombia

49,469,000

20,352,000

41.10%

30

Australia

24,967,000

17,292,000

69.30%

31

Taiwan, China

23,611,000

17,050,000

72.20%

32

Algeria

41,730,000

15,887,000

38.10%

33

Morocco

35,652,000

13,995,000

39.30%

34

Peru

32,554,000

13,765,000

42.30%

35

Venezuela

32,328,000

12,964,000

40.10%

36

Ukraine

44,170,000

12,649,000

28.60%

37

Netherlands

17,085,000

12,129,000

71.00%

38

Romania

19,105,000

11,575,000

60.60%

39

Chile

18,493,000

11,166,000

60.40%

40

Iraq

39,751,000

9,627,000

24.20%

41

Bangladesh

166,735,000

8,921,000

5.40%

42

Belgium

11,513,000

8,020,000

69.70%

43

Kazakhstan

18,256,000

7,934,000

43.50%

44

United Arab Emirates

9,543,000

7,845,000

82.20%

45

Sweden

9,987,000

7,391,000

74.00%

46

Czech Republic

10,563,000

7,106,000

67.30%

47

Azerbaijan

10,070,000

6,961,000

69.10%

48

Portugal

10,229,000

6,954,000

68.00%

49

Greece

10,872,000

6,896,000

63.40%

50

Switzerland

8,524,000

6,268,000

73.50%

Source: Newzoo

When looking at how many people have smartphones in the world, the majority of the mobile market growth and penetration can be attributed to the ever-increasing adoption of the smartphone lead by Apple and Samsung. For example, in the US the manufacturers control 79.22% of the market where 71.5% of American mobile subscribers have a smartphone. By the end of 2018, the global split between smartphone and cell phone is expected to surpass 50%.

U.S. DATA

SMARTPHONE AND MARKET DEMOGRAPHICS

It’s clear from the worldwide smartphone penetration data above that its adoption correlates closely to markets with greater affluence.

In this section, we explore the smartphone penetration of the U.S. market in terms of the demographic adoption and manufacturer market share.

U.S. Smartphone Ownership Demographics

Smartphone ownership in America is comparatively consistent across surveyed areas such as gender, ethnicity and area development. Contrary to the forecasted 2015-2020 U.S. smartphone figures from Newzoo at 71.5%, this 2018 survey data shows a slightly higher smartphone penetration in the U.S. at 77%

The greatest contrasts are presented where age, income and education are surveyed. For example, 94% of 18-29 year olds have a smartphone, whereas only 46% of the 65+ age group have adopted it.

Another contrast is where 67% of people that earn less than $30,000 a year own a smartphone. Further to this affluence data, 57% of Americans with less than a high school graduate attainment have a smartphone.

ANY CELL PHONE

SMARTPHONE ONLY

CELLPHONE ONLY (NON SMARTPHONE)

Total

95%

77%

17%

Men

95%

80%

16%

Women

94%

75%

19%

Ages 18-29

100%

94%

6%

30-49

98%

89%

9%

50-64

94%

73%

21%

65+

85%

46%

40%

Urban

96%

83%

13%

Suburban

94%

78%

16%

Rural

91%

65%

26%

White

94%

77%

17%

Black

98%

75%

23%

Hispanic

97%

77%

20%

Less than high school graduate

90%

57%

33%

High school graduate

92%

69%

24%

Some college

96%

80%

16%

College graduate

97%

91%

6%

Less than $30,000

92%

67%

25%

$30,000-$49,999

98%

82%

15%

$50,000-$74,999

98%

83%

15%

$75,000+

98%

93%

5%

Source: PEW Research Center

U.S. Mobile Manufacturer Market Share

The statistics below show the market share of the top 6 leading smartphone OEMs in America. The stat counter data from June 2017-2018 shows significant market share figures from Apple (53.65%) and Samsung (25.57%) which combine to almost 80% of the smartphone market.

Source: Global Mobile Market Report

According to CNET, there is 250 million machine to machine connections, so the GSMA data showing 8.6 Billion mobile connections most certainly shows that machines have overtaken man on our planet. It was certainly enough for us to get a kick out of, we hope you enjoyed this research summary.

TODAYS PHONE TRADE-IN PRICES

To get an idea of the values you can get when selling your old phone in the US, check out our latest phone trade-in pricing below: